A South Burlington businessman whose home was the scene of two deaths and several drug overdoses is one month into a prison sentence that some believe does not adequately address his role in the damage that occurred.
Bruce Erdmann, 64, pleaded guilty to one felony charge of distributing cocaine on March 12, 2021, according to a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
On April 13, Chief Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford sentenced Erdmann to three months imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release, including three months of home detention, and imposed a $4,100 fine.
Erdmann, the owner of Blueprints Etc. print shop in South Burlington and the son of prominent attorney Robert Erdmann, has been incarcerated at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans since April 21.
The federal charge against Erdmann stems from a single incident in March 2021 in which he provided cocaine to an individual in his house that led to a non-fatal overdose.
According to documents, a housekeeper from Shelburne — identified only as D.B. — was cleaning a bathroom when Erdmann entered and poured “a bunch of” cocaine on the bathroom counter, gesturing for her to take it. He then said, “Now you’re going to clean the house and you’ll feel better.” The action was unprompted, as she had not asked for the cocaine, police said.
The woman said she panicked, inhaled the cocaine, suffered a seizure and did not regain consciousness for five hours. “The Erdmann residents sat and watched the victim instead of immediately calling 911 for medical attention,” according to a South Burlington police affidavit.
After coming to, the woman drove herself home and had another seizure. She was then taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center, where she was diagnosed with acute respiratory failure. The lab results were positive for cocaine, cannabinoids and benzodiazepine.
D.B. was hospitalized for a few months, according to officials, and is said by friends to still be recovering and not ready to speak publicly.
Although that felony distribution charge was ultimately the only one brought against Erdmann, police and court documents painted a picture of widespread drug use at his Swift Street house, with even more serious consequences.
His wife, Ellen Erdmann, 62, died of a fentanyl overdose at that location on June 28, 2021, and a neighbor, Brian Miller, 29, died of a fentanyl overdose there the next day. The death certificates indicate that both were deemed accidental.
And less than a week later, on July 3, 2021, Brian Miller’s father overdosed on cocaine and opiates at Erdmann’s house and was revived with Narcan. Randall Miller, a well-known area dentist, was taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center, where he tested positive for cocaine, opiates, benzodiazepine, marijuana and alcohol, and remained in the hospital for three days, according to state records.
The state later revoked Miller’s medical license, The Other Paper in South Burlington reported in December 2021. Miller and Shireen Hart, his lawyer, did not respond to calls for comment.
The plea deal
On Oct. 14, 2022, Erdmann pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of knowingly and intentionally distributing cocaine. The charge could bring a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison, followed by three years of mandatory supervision that could be extended to lifetime, according to the signed plea agreement.
In the plea deal that was struck, U.S. Attorney Nikolas Kerest said his office would not prosecute Erdmann for any other offenses known at the time or committed by him in connection with drug possession or distribution.
As a result, no other cases were filed against him in federal court and four misdemeanor charges brought earlier by the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office were dropped.
In his April 6 sentencing memo, Kerest said Erdmann “severely abused controlled substances,” including cocaine use for about three decades and daily opiate use until his arrest. Even after his arrest and treatment, Erdmann “appears to believe his daily cocaine use was not the result of addiction but rather his own choice,” Kerest said.
His memo noted how Erdmann’s own wife and neighbor’s son both died of overdoses a day apart at his house months after the incident involving the housekeeper. He also said the sentence must protect the public from future crimes by Erdmann in light of the opioid crisis that continues unabated in Chittenden County.
Taking those factors into account, the U.S. attorney recommended a six-month sentence with five years of supervised release, in accordance with federal sentencing guidelines.
Erdmann’s lawyer, Ian Carleton, argued otherwise. In his April 3 sentencing memo, he said his client “has amply demonstrated remorse, has done exceptionally well on supervised release” and has had “the first significant clean and sober stretch” in his adult life. The attorney said incarceration could be “potentially catastrophic” to recovery efforts, given the “unreliability of methadone programs in federal prisons.”
Since Erdmann has no criminal history, has expressed remorse and cares for his elderly mother, Carleton requested a probationary sentence instead of jail time.
“While every possession to distribute conviction is serious, the undisputed facts here are that Mr. Erdmann distributed a small amount of drugs to one person — his housekeeper,” Carleton said.
Carleton also denied that Erdmann had pressured D.B. into taking cocaine or that she panicked before doing so. He said both Erdmann and his wife decided not to seek medical help “based on observations of D.B., a person they both cared for as a friend, that such attention was not necessary.”
He also said Erdmann “does not believe it’s fair to insinuate, as the government does, that he bore some responsibility” for the two deaths at his home. “Both deaths were investigated” and Erdmann was not charged, the memo said.
At his sentencing last month, Erdmann admitted to making serious mistakes and said he regretted his decision to share cocaine with the housekeeper.
Judge Crawford issued the three-month sentence and imposed several conditions, including collection of DNA, refraining from crime and responding to his probation officer.
While on supervised release, Erdmann is expected to be monitored electronically, submit to searches of his properties and continue to be in treatment, according to court documents.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment. Carleton, Erdmann’s lawyer, did not respond to interview requests.
Dismay at charges, length of sentence
Cindy Kleh, a longtime friend of Ellen Erdmann’s, said she attended the sentencing hearing last month and was stunned at what she termed the lack of justice for families of the deceased.
“It was a real experience for me to see that the law is not equal. It depends on who you are and how much money you have, whether you have the means to pay for the consequences,” Kleh said. “I’m almost crying because it makes me so upset.”
She said the housekeeper is still very weak, has had three heart attacks and multiple hospital stays that have racked up more than $300,000 in medical bills. Kleh said her family is still not ready to talk publicly about the matter.
Essex Junction resident David Holton, who said he knows the Miller family, said he was stunned to hear about such a short sentence.
“His wife died on a Monday and his neighbor’s son died on a Tuesday. That’s two fatalities in the same house,” Holton said. “I mean, if two people died in my house of drug overdose, I would think that police, the district attorney, the state’s attorneys would be all over that.”
The brother of Brian Miller, the neighbor who died of a fatal overdose at Erdmann’s house, said in a letter last October to The Other Paper that Erdmann should have been held accountable for what had occurred at the Swift Street residence.
“The real story is that two people died, and another was seriously injured, all in the home of a man who admitted to possessing, controlling and distributing dangerous, illegal drugs,” wrote Michael Miller, who wondered why Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George had declined to file felony charges after the incidents.
“George’s handling of this matter is a shameful response that provides absolutely no protection from future similar incidents,” Miller said.
A 33-page South Burlington police investigation report obtained by VTDigger through a public records request indicated there were “numerous drug overdoses and untimely investigations from March 2021 through August 2021” at Erdmann’s house. Further, police responded to the house eight times between May 2018 and May 2023, according to public records coordinator Emily Graham.
In her 15-page affidavit of probable cause filed in Chittenden Superior Court on Dec. 20, 2021, Sgt. Cpl. Sarah Superneau suggested three charges — one of possession of regulated drugs and two felony charges of dispensing cocaine and possession of methamphetamine.
Authorities obtained a search warrant for Erdmann’s house, and a report on the findings listed 14 instances of illegal drugs, ranging from marked and unmarked prescription bottles around the house to powder residue on the kitchen table.
South Burlington Police Chief Shawn Burke said the investigation conducted by Superneau “was excellent; no stone was left unturned.”
George did not pursue the two felony charges but brought four misdemeanor counts related to illegal possession of drugs. Erdmann pleaded not guilty last year to those charges, which have now been dismissed in connection with the federal plea agreement.
For her part, George said in an email, “We did not believe that we could prove the felony offenses beyond a reasonable doubt based on the evidence we had and the case law related to that statute/charge. My understanding was that police agreed with our charging decision, despite sending it to us with the felony listed.
“This happens all the time where law enforcement sends the case with certain charges listed and then we discuss with them at length before charging and come to an agreement on what we can prove,” George said.
George, who was appointed to her state’s attorney position by Gov. Phil Scott in 2017 and has since been elected twice, said: “I understand family and friends are not satisfied with this answer … but prosecutors must make decisions based on the case law and evidence.”
As for her decision to give way to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in pursuing the case, she said that “after many conversations with our federal partners, we felt that the conduct more appropriately fit within federal discretion, which is why we agreed to dismiss our charges and let them take over the prosecution.”
Burke, the South Burlington police chief, confirmed the decision was George’s but added that it is often difficult in such cases “to pinpoint that one substance was the lethal substance” in an overdose.
He said the availability of opioids and the overdose rate is “staggering” in Chittenden County. Despite dogged efforts, there has been very little progress in reducing the numbers since the pandemic, he said.
“The Erdmann case illustrates that substance use disorder and its deadly effects finds its way into every neighborhood in South Burlington — the tragic death of two city residents and near-death of another person is a shocking fact pattern,” Burke said.
Meanwhile, Bruce Erdmann is one-third of the way through his three-month prison sentence at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans,
In regards to the sentence, Sarah George said the U.S. Attorney’s Office “prosecuted the case to the best of their ability and advocated for what they believed was the most just outcome given the evidence and circumstances. The court then issued a sentence that they felt was fair and in the interest of justice.”
